The Dunedin mum, office worker and craftswoman was inspired by fellow members of an online stitching group to embark on the weather stitching project early last year, and was delighted to have stuck at it all year.
"I saw photos posted by people around the world, who had completed crochet blankets during 2023 and really liked the idea," Ms Thomas said.
"So, I decided to crochet a blanket whose colours were dictated by Dunedin’s temperature high each day — divided into monthly squares.
"I bought some cheapish yarn and devised a colour scheme for the temperatures, then just got on with it."
Ms Thomas used red and dark purple to represent the warmest temperatures (over 28°C), shifting into the blue spectrum for cooler days, and dark blue for very cold days (6°C or under).
"Interestingly, I had very few dark blue or red and purple sections, but there was a lot of blue overall," she said.
"May, June and July were almost all blue, and the coldest day was in August — it was the one dark blue day."
To add a personal touch, the birthdays of Ms Thomas, her partner, and their blended family of four children, were marked with some added sparkle.
"It was a fun thing to do and a way to include our family in the project."
Given the competing demands of life and work, Ms Thomas got behind on the project from time to time, but keeping records of Dunedin’s temperatures made it relatively easy to catch up.
"Overall, I’m pretty pleased with myself that I managed to stick with it for the whole year."
Posting the results of her project online had garnered a great response and a lot of positive comments.
"It was nice that so many people were interested and supportive," she said.
Describing herself as "a collector of hobbies", Ms Thomas enjoys astro photography (taking photos of stars and aurora) and making resin jewellery, but crochet is her current favourite.
"Crochet is a good activity for after the kids have gone to bed and we’re relaxing for the evening.
"And you end up with a nice blanket to keep my knees warm in the winter."
Ms Thomas plans to repeat the exercise this year, with a different pattern and colour scheme.
"This time, I’m going to use purple for the cooler temperatures, since I’ve got a lot of that colour yarn left over, and I’m sick of blue."
